Newman Engineers Fifth Pole Position

November 2, 2002|By Ed Hinton Staff Writer

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Ryan Newman tied the late Davey Allison's record for poles won by a rookie with a considerably different approach than Allison used 15 years ago or even the way Newman's peers were doing it Friday.

Newman and his crew chief, Matt Borland, are both engineers working in a traditional world of hard-knocks, self-educated drivers and crewmen.

So, adjusting the "heave" of their Ford Taurus to maintain "body position" through the bumpy third and fourth turns of North Carolina Speedway, they worked out an equation that gave Newman a lap at 155.836 mph for his fifth pole of the season, the most of any Winston Cup driver this year.

Meanwhile, the others qualifying for Sunday's Pop Secret 400 were just trying to keep their cars from bouncing up and down through the corners, and keep their cars pointed straight.

Some didn't do so well. Season points leader Tony Stewart could manage only the 24th starting spot, at only 152.786 mph in a Pontiac. Second-place Mark Martin did qualify fifth, but third-place Jimmie Johnson, Newman's chief competitor for rookie of the year honors, qualified a miserable 31st.

Newman seems to be at his best at tracks other drivers consider the trickiest. His last pole was at tiny Martinsville Speedway two weeks ago, when other drivers were complaining that the track was newly treacherous due to the recent grinding-down of the pavement in the turns.

Last week, both Stewart and Johnson spoke of the tricky 1-mile oval here.

"This track is a good example because of the bumps in three and four," he said. "Some people will call it a `porpoising effect,' but what it really is [in engineering-speak] is the car heaving. Heaving is just the car traveling up and down. But it's how you can get the car to maintain a body position and at the same time keep the grip in the tires without sacrificing body position.

Newman's Penske Racing teammate, veteran Rusty Wallace, likes to call his own shots on chassis setups, the old-fashioned way. Wallas also was nearly two mph slower than Newman at eighth fastest overall. And Wallace was just happy that "we definitely picked up a lot" from pre-qualifying practice.

Stewart wasn't unduly perturbed by his Pontiac's performance.

"It wasn't terrible," he said. "It just didn't go any faster in qualifying [than in practice]. It was just loose.

"But, qualifying has never really been our deal here. We've never really torn it up, but we always seem to race well. So we'll be all right. We'll get it worked out by Sunday."

Johnson, who also had to fight a loose -- drastically oversteering -- car, wasn't as confident he can compensate for his poor starting spot.

"It takes a lot of patience and a lot of experience to really figure out how to run well here," Johnson said.